The end of this year’s French Open night sessions on Wednesday brought some welcome relief for those who prefer going to bed at a normal time. A record late finish here of 3.07am on day seven is not to be celebrated.
Neither is another new streak that has frankly brought shame on the organisers of this grand-slam tournament. For the first time, all 11 matches in these primetime evening slots were selected from the men’s singles draw.
Concerns about inequality in tennis are often raised, but this is particularly bad. Not once did the schedulers decide that a women’s singles contest was worthy of taking centre stage in this showpiece one-match session.
Remarkably, the situation is now even worse compared with an extremely questionable approach in previous years. When night play was introduced in 2022, one of the ten sessions featured a women’s match. The same ratio in 2023 prompted the tournament director, Amélie Mauresmo, to admit that “we can do better on the night matches”.
Lo and behold, Mauresmo has done nothing to address this. It is a surprise considering that the Frenchwoman was once one of the WTA Tour’s most high-profile players as a former world No1 and two-times grand-slam champion.
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While the French Open does not come under the direct jurisdiction of the WTA, there is frustration among those who work for the governing body of the tour. A statement was issued on Thursday making clear that the scheduling here is not doing justice to the women’s game.
“The generation and depth of talent we are currently witnessing in the sport is incredible,” the WTA statement read. “Fans want to see the excitement and thrill of women’s tennis on the biggest stages and in the premium time slots. To continue building the value of our combined product, a balanced match schedule that features both the best in men’s and women’s tennis is critical.”
Failing to select the blockbuster match between Swiatek and Osaka for a night slot was a clear misstep
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French Open organisers did not respond to a request for comment, but have repeatedly pointed out in the past that the standard schedule for their main court, Court Philippe Chatrier, contains two men’s and two women’s matches throughout the whole day.
However, the introduction of a specific one-match night session here has created the impression that the last match of the day, starting at 8.15pm, is the most important. To not once feature the women’s singles draw in this slot is a dereliction of duty to the sport.
The main concern of organisers is that the best-of-three-set format in the women’s game, compared with best-of-five for the men, means there is a bigger risk that the session could be done in an hour. Night-ticket holders pay between £45 and £100 for the first round and between £85 and £180 for the quarter-finals.
Ultimately that is one of the many flaws of creating a one-match session. While the French Open’s bank balance has been boosted through a deal with Amazon Prime Video for a separate domestic night-rights package and the sale of 15,000 extra tickets, it appears to have caused more reputational damage than good because of sexism accusations and late finishes.
Richard Gasquet’s second-round match against Jannik Sinner got primetime billing ahead of the Swiatek-Osaka epic
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The biggest misstep this year came on day four when organisers decided not to schedule the second-round match between Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka at night. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, of course, but there were many of us who had an inclination beforehand that this contest would not disappoint. A three-hour epic between two of the sport’s most high-profile active players proved to be one of the best matches of the fortnight.
It does not help that Swiatek specifically requests that her matches are scheduled during the day. “I just like to sleep normally,” she explained last week. While organisers do take into account the preferences of top players, they should not be beholden to them. Swiatek, in her responsibilities as the world No1, should also realise the wider benefit of taking on a night shift or two.
If organisers are adamant that the 8.15pm session will continue next year, there is a simple solution, in my mind. A women’s match should be followed by a second doubles slot — men’s, women’s mixed or even the legends event — with a start time of not before 9.30pm. If the preceding match runs past this time, the doubles match moves to another court.
Amazon must also take some responsibility. In tennis it is common for broadcasters to have considerable sway in the scheduling of matches, yet Amazon has not shown a single second of action from the women’s event over 11 night sessions. Given the opportunity to respond on Thursday, the dispiriting answer was: “No comment.”
Lack of video replays ‘ridiculous’, says emotional Gauff
Coco Gauff believes it is “almost ridiculous” that tennis is not using more video technology after a questionable decision from the umpire left her in tears during a French Open semi-final defeat by Swiatek.
The third seed from the United States has now lost 11 of 12 matches against Swiatek. She never came close to a rare victory here, as the world No1 triumphed 6-2, 6-4 in 97 minutes.
Gauff was left in tears after her dispute with the umpire
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Gauff looked frustrated throughout and became particularly emotional early in the second set after arguing with Aurélie Tourte, the umpire. Swiatek had hit a serve that was incorrectly called out by the line judge, but Tourte deemed that the point should not be replayed because the call had not affected Gauff’s wayward return. Television replays showed that Gauff actually had a reasonable case as the call was heard in sync with the moment of contact.
Ultimately the decision had no significant impact as Gauff broke serve in the same game before going on to lose the match. It has, however, prompted yet another request for tennis to extend its video review capabilities beyond the standard Hawk-Eye challenge system.
Swiatek is now only one win away from claiming a third successive French Open title
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“It was just overwhelming,” Gauff said of her tears. “Obviously I’m losing the match. Every point matters against anybody, but especially against her. It was just one of those moments, but I overcame it. I obviously won that game. I usually don’t get too frustrated with decisions like that, but it was just a combination of everything going on in the moment.
“Tennis is the only sport where not only do we not have the video review system, but a lot of times the decisions are made by one person. In other sports there’s usually multiple refs making a decision. I know the US Open brought some of it last year [in a trial].
“I definitely think it’s almost ridiculous we don’t have it. There are so many decisions that are made, and it sucks as a player to go online and you see that you were completely right. I definitely think as a sport we have to evolve. They’re showing it on TV, so I don’t get why the player can’t see it.”
Paolini, the No12 seed from Italy, will be Swiatek’s opponent in the final
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Swiatek is now within one win of becoming the first player to win three consecutive women’s singles titles here since Justine Henin in 2007. She is the overwhelming favourite in Saturday’s final against Jasmine Paolini, the No12 seed from Italy, who defeated 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-1 on Thursday.
Great Britain’s Neal Skupski fell just short in his attempt to win a fourth grand-slam title in the mixed doubles. He and his American partner, Desirae Krawczyk, lost 6-4, 7-5 to France’s Édouard Roger-Vasselin and Germany’s Laura Siegemund in the final.